When the Mandeville City Council appointed him interim mayor, Edward “Bubby” Lyons made no qualms about the fact that he intended to appoint a police chief before his time was up.

Now, a month later, Lyons is questioning if the five months he has in office will provide him with enough time to make an appointment.

The council is set to approve at its meeting Thursday night the three-page job description that will be used when choosing a chief. Lyons said the description, which is dated July 20, 2009, has been tweaked several times since it was first written.

But, he said, it just came to his attention that it had to be adopted by the council.

Act 418 of the legislature authored last year by State Rep. Tim Burns, R-Mandeville, removed the position of Mandeville police chief from the auspices of the civil service commission.

By law, the chief is now appointed by the mayor and ratified by the council. The bill also gave the mayor the sole authority to discipline or fire the chief.

It was in reviewing the text of this bill that Lyons realized the council must approve the job description before he could start formally accepting applications.

This delay is what threw a wrench in Lyon’s schedule and has caused him to doubt if he can make an appointment in time.

The job description requires applicants to hold a degree in police science, law enforcement, criminal justice, public administration or a related field or to have graduated from the Federal Bureau of Investigations National Academy. Applicants must also have 10 years of prior law enforcement experience with at least six years having been served in the rank of sergeant or higher.

They must possess or be able to obtain a state driver’s license without a record of suspensions or revocations in any state and may not have any felony convictions. They must also be a U.S. citizen.

Once the job description is approved, Lyons said he will decide if he feels he has the time to formally start accepting applications.

He said he has no one in mind for the position and has already received applications from at least 20 individuals interested in the position. He said he has not reviewed any of these applications, and they have all been forwarded to the city’s human resources department.

Lyons has stated that he is confident in the abilities of the city’s human resources department and will rely heavily on them if he decides to make an appointment.

He stated not long after taking office that he does not feel it is necessary to hire someone to conduct a nationwide search for chief and that he feels there are plenty of qualified individuals living right here in St. Tammany Parish.

Mandeville has been without a permanent police chief since last November, when then chief Tom Buell was forced to retire after an anonymous tip uncovered that money was being used from the Police Department’s Citizen Service Fund to purchase gifts for city employees, including then mayor Eddie Price.

Capt. Ron Ruple was appointed to serve as acting chief until a new chief could be appointed.

Ruple has stated he does not intend on applying for the position permanently.

He said he fears that since the position has been taken out of civil service, the chief’s position will become more political as whomever is appointed will serve only until the mayor decides to appoint someone new or until a new mayor is elected.

Ruple said he does not want to be appointed by Lyons because there would be no guarantee he would still have a job after the March 27 election, and with a family to support, he said that is a chance he simply cannot take.

While he believes Ruple is doing an excellent job, Lyons said a year is too long to go without a permanent chief.

He said while he knows he is in a time crunch, Lyons still intends to make every effort possible to hire a new chief while he has the chance because he does not want to take the chance of the issue being placed back on the back burner when a new mayor is elected.

“I am going to try and get it done,” he said, “but there are certain things I need to clarify first.”

Ruple agreed with the mayor in that the department needs a leader.

“It’s not fair to the men,” he said, adding that he feels his department has operated in limbo for far too long.